Tuesday

It looks like the Iditarod might be a photo finish this year.  Mitch Seavey, Ally Zirkle and Jeff King  all arrived at the White Mountain checkpoint early this morning.  Mitch Seavey was only about 10 minutes ahead of Ally.  I'd like to see a woman win the race this year!  They have a mandatory 8 hour rest stop in White Mountain, so won't be leaving there until this afternoon.  Then it's only about 75 miles into Nome.

 I was confused about the care of dropped dogs after being flown back to Anchorage.  I did read that each musher had to have someone responsible for picking up the dogs.  But it seems they are taken to a correctional facility for women first.  The women prisoners care for them until they are picked up.

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Here is a photo of some dropped dogs loaded in a small plane to be flown to McGrath, where they are loaded on a larger plane to be taken to Anchorage.  They don't look too happy about it.



This is an interesting photo.  It is an aerial view of one of the checkpoints with about twenty teams taking a rest. You can see the straw left on the snow by someone who left the checkpoint.  It's mind boggling to think that there are over 1,000 dogs on the trail all at once.

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I watched a terrible movie yesterday, "Hog Island".  I was mad at myself for wasting the time it took to watch it.  Then last night I watched "Jeremiah Johnson", which was a great movie.